Preschoolers thrive on routine, and daily use of a classroom calendar helps young children know what to expect each day. A routine is important because it makes a child feel more comfortable, and reduces the uncertainty that each day can bring. Use your calendar to both start the day and to help your students know what events are coming up. If a big activity is coming, help them count the days that they must wait until the event.
Calendars are extremely helpful for learning the days of the week. Children don't typically enter preschool with a knowledge of the days of the week or the months of the year. By using your preschool calendar each day, you can help them understand the passing of time in a broader way than they have ever known. Daily use of a calendar will help them concretely envision the way days, weeks, months and years pass, and how their use helps us record the passage of time.
As you continue to use your calendar, children will learn that calendars mark important days. They will learn that major events are marked on the calendar and that people use calendars to keep up with when that day will occur. You can use your preschool calendar to mark holidays, school vacations, field trips and student birthdays. By adding these events to your preschool calendar, you help children learn patience and how to deal with expectation.
Calendars can even help children learn to read. Through their daily use, children will begin to recognize common words. They'll soon be able to read the days of the week and perhaps the months of the year. They'll recognize the names of popular events and words that appear often, such as "party" and "school." Beyond this, kids begin to learn the procession of numbers as they count the days going by on the calendar. After only a few months, many children will be able to easily count to 30 because of their daily use of the preschool calendar.